Apparatuses and methods for providing quantized coefficients for video encoding

ABSTRACT

Apparatuses and methods for optimizing rate-distortion costs in a signal are disclosed herein. An apparatus may comprise a quantization block that may be configured to serially receive a plurality of coefficients and to generate a plurality of candidates for each of a plurality of coefficients. The quantization block may further be configured to generate a respective arc for each of the candidates having a respective rate and in accordance with the MPEG-2 coding standard. The quantization block may further be configured to identify which of the plurality of arcs has a minimum cost and provide a modified plurality of coefficients associated with the minimum cost arc.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of this invention relate generally to video encoding, and more specifically, to the quantization of transform coefficients.

BACKGROUND

Video or other media signals, may be used by a variety of devices, including televisions, broadcast systems, mobile devices, and both laptop and desktop computers. Typically, devices may display video in response to receipt of video or other media signals, often after decoding the signal from an encoded form. Video signals provided between devices are often encoded using one or more of a variety of encoding and/or compression techniques, and video signals are typically encoded in a manner to be decoded in accordance with a particular standard, such as MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and H.264/MPEG-4 Part 10. By encoding video or other media signals, then decoding the received signals, the amount of data needed to transmit video between devices may be significantly reduced.

Video encoding typically proceeds by encoding macroblocks, or other units, of video data. Prediction coding may be used to generate predictive blocks and residual blocks, where the residual blocks represent a difference between a predictive block and the block being coded. Prediction coding may include spatial and/or temporal predictions to remove redundant data in video signals, thereby further increasing the reduction of data. Intracoding for example, is directed to spatial prediction and reducing the amount of spatial redundancy between blocks in a frame or slice. Intercoding, on the other hand, is directed to temporal prediction and reducing the amount of temporal redundancy between blocks in successive frames or slices. Intercoding may make use of motion prediction to track movement between corresponding blocks of successive frames or slices.

Typically, in encoder implementations, including intracoding and intercoding based implementations, residual blocks (e.g., difference between actual and predicted blocks) may be transformed, quantized, and encoded using one of a variety of encoding techniques (e.g., entropy encoding) to generate a set of coefficients. It is these coefficients that may be transmitted between the encoding device and the decoding device. Quantization may be determinative of the amount of loss that may occur during the encoding of a video stream. That is, the amount of data that is removed from a bitstream may be dependent on a quantization parameter generated by and/or provided to an encoder.

Video encoding techniques typically perform some amount of rate-distortion optimization. That is, there is generally a trade-off between an achievable data rate and the amount of distortion present in a decoded signal. Many encoders utilize quantization for rate-distortion optimization of a video signal in accordance with one or more coding standards. In doing so, however, costs, including rate costs and distortion costs, must be calculated so that coefficients of each residual block may be optimized for the selected coding standard. This cost measurement requires not only transformation and quantization of coefficients, but encoding of the coefficients as well. As a result, and in particular for more complex encoding algorithms, optimizing coefficients in real-time has presented challenges. Because many coding standards require highly complex and demanding computations for encoding, rate calculation, and therefore, rate-distortion optimization, for many current coding standards, is simply too demanding for completion in real-time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an encoder that may be used in the apparatus of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a quantization block that may be used in the encoder of FIG. 2 according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of an optimization block that may be used in the quantization block of FIG. 3 according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a candidate generation block that may be used in the optimization circuit of FIG. 4 according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a minimum cost block that may be used in the optimization circuit of FIG. 4 according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a node cost block that may be used in the optimization block of FIG. 4 according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of an arc cost block that may be used in the node cost block of FIG. 7 according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a rate block that may be used in the arc cost block of FIG. 8 according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10 is a state diagram according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic illustration of a media delivery system according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic illustration of a video distribution system that may make use of apparatuses described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Examples of methods and apparatuses for optimizing rate-distortion costs in a signal are described herein. Certain details are set forth below to provide a sufficient understanding of embodiments of the invention. However, it will be clear to one having skill in the art that embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these particular details, or with additional or different details. Moreover, the particular embodiments of the present invention described herein are provided by way of example and should not be used to limit the scope of the invention to these particular embodiments. In other instances, well-known video components, encoder or decoder components, circuits, control signals, timing protocols, and software operations have not been shown in detail in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the invention. The apparatus 100 may include an encoder 110. The encoder 110 may be configured to receive a signal, such as a video signal that, in one embodiment, may comprise video data (e.g., frames). The apparatus 100 may be implemented in any of a variety of devices employing video encoding, including but not limited to, televisions, broadcast systems, mobile devices, and both laptop and desktop computers. Generally, the encoder 110 may operate at a fixed rate to output a bitstream that may be generated in a rate-independent manner.

The encoder 110 may include one or more logic circuits, control logic, logic gates, processors, memory, and/or any combination or sub-combination of the same, and may be configured to encode and/or compress a video signal using one or more encoding techniques, examples of which will be described further below. The encoder 110 may be configured, for example, to encode a variable bit rate signal and/or a constant bit rate signal. In at least one embodiment, the encoder 110 may include an entropy encoder, such as such as a variable-length coding encoder (e.g., Huffman encoder, run-length encoder, or CAVLC encoder), and/or may be configured to encode data, for instance, at a macroblock level. Each macroblock may be encoded in intra-coded mode, inter-coded mode, bidirectionally, or in any combination or subcombination of the same.

In an example operation of the apparatus 100, the encoder 110 may receive and encode a video signal in accordance with one or more encoding techniques to provide an encoded bitstream. The encoded bitstream may be provided to external circuitry. In one embodiment, for instance, the encoder 110 may provide the encoded bitstream to a decoder, which may subsequently provide (e.g., generate) a video signal based, at least in part, on the encoded bitstream. The video signal provided to the encoder 110 may differ from the video signal provided by a decoder due to lossy encoding operations performed by the encoder 110, such as, quantization.

As will be explained in more detail below, a video signal may be encoded by the encoder 110 such that the rate-distortion of the video signal may be optimized. In one embodiment, for example, rate and/or distortion of a video signal may be optimized by optimizing quantized coefficients during an encoding process. Rate-distortion optimization refers to a process designed to select a particular rate-distortion trade-off where a sufficient rate is maintained with an allowable amount of distortion. Rate-distortion may typically be represented by a lambda factor X, or lambda, multiplied by the rate and the product added to the distortion. This equation may be referred to as an “RD score.” Generally, encoding methods may aim to minimize the RD score.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an encoder 200 according to an embodiment of the invention. The encoder 200 may be in part used to implement the encoder 110 of FIG. 1, and may further be compliant with the MPEG-2 standard. In some embodiments, the encoder 200 may additionally or alternatively be partially or fully compliant with one or more other coding standards known in the art, known now or in the future, such as the H.263 coding standard.

The encoder 200 may include a mode decision block 230, a prediction block 220, a delay buffer 202, a subtractor 204, a transform 206, a quantization block 250, an entropy encoder 208, an inverse quantization block 210, an inverse transform block 213, an adder 214, and a picture buffer 218. The mode decision block 230 may be configured to determine one or more appropriate coding modes based, at least in part, on the incoming base band video signal and decoded picture buffer signal, described further below, and/or may determine each coding mode on a per frame and/or macroblock basis. Additionally, the mode decision block 230 may employ motion and/or disparity estimation of the video signal. The mode decision may include macroblock type, intra modes, inter modes, motion vectors, and quantization parameters. In some examples of the present invention, the mode decision block 230 may provide lambda that may be used by the optimized quantization block 250, described further below. The mode decision block 230 may also utilize lambda in making mode decisions in accordance with examples of the present invention.

The output of the mode decision block 230 may be utilized by the prediction block 220 to generate a predictor in accordance with a coding standard, such as the MPEG-2 coding standard and/or other prediction methodologies. The predictor may be subtracted by a delayed version of the video signal at the subtractor 204. Using the delayed version of the video signal may provide time for the mode decision block 230 to act. The output of the subtractor 204 may then be the residual, e.g. the difference between a block and a predicted block, and the residual may be provided to the transform 206.

The transform 206 may be configured to perform a transform, such as a discrete cosine transform (DCT), to transform the residual to the frequency domain. As a result, the transform 206 may provide a coefficient block that may, for instance, correspond to spectral components of data in the video signal. The quantization block 250 may be configured to receive the coefficient block and quantize the coefficients of the coefficient block to produce a quantized coefficient block. The quantization employed by the quantization block 250 may be lossy, but may adjust and/or optimize one or more coefficients of the quantized coefficient block based, for instance, on a Lagrangian cost function. By way of example, the quantization block 250 may utilize lambda to optimize or adjust rate-distortion. Lambda may be received from the mode decision block 230, or may be specified by a user. The lambda factor may change, e.g. per macroblock or other unit, and may be based on information encoded by the video signal (e.g. video signals encoding advertising may utilize a generally smaller lambda than video signals encoding detailed scenes).

In turn, the entropy encoder 208 may encode the quantized coefficient block to provide an encoded bitstream. The entropy encoder 208 may be any entropy encoder known by those having ordinary skill in the art, such as a variable length coding (VLC) encoder. The optimized quantized coefficients may also be inverse scaled and quantized by the inverse quantization block 210. The inverse scaled and quantized coefficients may be inverse transformed by the inverse transform block 212 to produce a reconstructed residual. The reconstructed residual may be added to the predictor at the adder 214 to produce reconstructed video, and written to the picture buffer 218 for use in future frames, and fed back to the mode decision block 230 for further in-macroblock intra prediction or other mode decision operations.

The quantization block 250 may be configured to provide a quantized coefficient block having optimized coefficients such that a cost associated with each coefficient is optimized. In one embodiment, for example, this optimization may be based, at least in part, on a Lagrangian cost function, such as lambda, that may be provided by the mode decision block 230. In another embodiment, the optimization may be based, at least in part, on the inverse of the signal lambda, or inverse lambda. Lambda may, for instance, be a rate scaling factor for determining a cost (e.g., rate-distortion cost) of a signal. Moreover, lambda may be generated by the mode decision block 230 based, at least in part, on the signal, and may be fixed or adjusted in real-time.

As discussed, the encoder 200 may operate in accordance with any known video coding standard, including the MPEG-2 video coding standard. Thus, because the MPEG-2 video coding standard employs motion prediction and/or compensation, the encoder 200 may further include a feedback loop that includes an inverse quantization block 210, an inverse transform 212, and a reconstruction adder 214. These elements may mirror elements included in a decoder (not shown) that is configured to reverse, at least in part, the encoding process performed by the encoder 200. Additionally, the feedback loop of the encoder may include a prediction block 220 and a picture buffer 218.

In an example operation of the encoder 200, a video signal (e.g. a base band video signal) may be provided to the encoder 200. The video signal may be provided to the delay buffer 202 and the mode decision block 230. The subtractor 204 may receive the video signal from the delay buffer 202 and may subtract a motion prediction signal from the video signal to generate a residual signal. The residual signal may be provided to the transform 206 and processed using a forward transform, such as a DCT. As described, the transform 206 may generate a coefficient block that may be provided to the quantization block 250, and the quantization block 250 may quantize and/or optimize the coefficient block such that the cost of coefficients in the coefficient block are optimized. In one embodiment, quantization of the coefficient block may be based, at least in part, on lambda or inverse lambda. The quantized coefficient block may be provided to the entropy encoder 208 and the entropy encoder 208 may encode the quantized coefficient block to provide an encoded bitstream.

The quantized coefficient block may further be provided to the feedback loop of the encoder 200. That is, the quantized coefficient block may be inverse quantized, inverse transformed, and added to the motion prediction signal by the inverse quantization block 210, the inverse transform 212, and the reconstruction adder 214, respectively, to produce a reconstructed video signal. The picture buffer 218 may receive a reconstructed video signal from the reconstruction adder 214, and using the filtered video signals, the prediction block 220 may provide a motion prediction signal to the subtractor 204.

Accordingly, the encoder of FIG. 2 may provide a coded bitstream based on a video signal, where the coded bitstream is generated using coefficients optimized in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. The coded bitstream may be a VLC-encoded bitstream that may operate at a fixed rate. The encoder may be operated in semiconductor technology, and may be implemented in hardware, software, or combinations thereof. In some examples, the encoder may be implemented in hardware with the exception of the mode decision block that may be implemented in software. In other examples, other blocks may also be implemented in software, however software implementations may not achieve real-time operation.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a quantization block 300 according to an embodiment of the invention. The quantization block 300 may be used to implement the quantization block 250 of FIG. 2. The quantization block 300 may be configured to receive a block of coefficients (e.g. coefficient block) and quantize the coefficient block to generate a quantized coefficient block that may include optimized quantized coefficients. For example, the coefficient block received by the quantization block 250 may be provided by the transform 206, which may be a standard transform used in MPEG-2 encoders. The coefficients may be quantized and optimized to generate a quantized coefficient block.

In an example operation of the quantization block 300, a coefficient block may be provided to a forward ordering block 302 from, for example, a transform such as the transform 206 of FIG. 2. The forward ordering block 302 may convert the coefficients of the coefficient block to a coefficient vector using, for example, one or more zigzag operations to place the coefficients in bitstream coefficient order, for instance, in accordance with the MPEG-2 coding standard. The coefficients may then be sequentially provided to a remainder of the quantization block performing a block optimization process. Responsive to processing a last coefficient, the optimization process may provide a set of optimized, quantized coefficients (output as u[ ] in FIG. 3). The optimized, quantized coefficients may optionally be inverse zig-zagged and output as a quantized coefficient block.

Accordingly, the coefficient vector c[ ] may be indexed by the forward index block 306, for instance, to reduce the number of possible coefficient values and/or the amount of data required to represent each coefficient value. The indexed coefficient vector may then be provided to the block optimization circuit 350, such that coefficients may be received sequentially.

The inverter 370 may receive lambda, and may provide inverse lambda to the optimization block 350. Using inverse lambda, the optimization block 350 may receive the coefficient vector and provide an optimized quantized coefficient vector. In some embodiments, the optimization block 350 may be configured to receive lambda directly from a mode decision block and may optimize the coefficients based, at least in part, on lambda or inverse lambda.

The reverse index block 308 may subsequently rescale the optimized quantized coefficient vector, and the inverse ordering block 312 may convert the vector to a quantized coefficient block, for example, by performing an inverse zigzag operation. The quantized coefficient block may be provided to an entropy encoder, such as the entropy encoder 208 of FIG. 2, and encoded in accordance with one or more encoding methods as described.

In this manner, examples of optimized quantization blocks described herein may process coefficients using one cycle per coefficient, resulting in a bounded time optimization. Any number of coefficients may be processed per block, however generally a fixed number of coefficients are provided per block, such as, but not limited to, 64, 16, 15, 8, or 4 coefficients per block.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of an optimization block 400 according to an embodiment of the invention. The optimization block 400 may be used to implement the optimization block 350 of FIG. 3 and further may be used in the quantization block 250 of FIG. 2. The optimization block 400 may include a candidate generation block 405, a plurality of node cost blocks 410, a plurality of minimum cost blocks 415, and a final minimum cost block 420. As shown, elements of the optimization block 400, such as the plurality of node cost blocks 410 and plurality of minimum cost blocks 415, may be arranged in a trellis configuration. In at least one embodiment, this may allow for coefficients to be optimized using one or more dynamic programming methods. Generally, each coefficient may be received at the optimization block 400 in a coding order. Multiple candidates of quantized coefficients may be generated, as described further below, along with an associated distortion cost. The candidates may be provided to node cost blocks 410 (there may be one such block per possible coding state), and the node cost blocks 410 may calculate a cost of each candidate given the node state, add the calculated cost to the current node cost and determine a next state for the candidate. Minimum costs may then be determined for each destination state, and that minimum cost provided back to the node cost block 410. After the last coefficient has been received, the nodes may be evaluated to determine which node has the lowest cost, and the cost, rate distortion, and list of quantized coefficients of the lowest cost node may be provided as an output of the optimization block.

For example, the candidate generation block 405 may be configured to receive sequential coefficients from the index 306 of FIG. 3, lambda or inverse lambda, and Qp, a standard quantization parameter that may be provided from the mode decision block, e.g. the mode decision block of FIG. 2. The candidate generation block may provide a plurality of candidates (e.g., u₀, u₁, u₂ . . . ) for each coefficient in the coefficient vector, as will be described further below. Any number of candidates may generally be provided, for example five candidates may be provided in the example of FIG. 4, however, other numbers of candidates may be used as well. The candidate generation block 405 may further provide a distortion cost (e.g., D₀, D₁, D₂ . . . ) for each candidate. Each node cost block 410 may be coupled to the candidate generation block 405 and correspond to a unique node state. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the plurality of node cost blocks 410 may comprise 33 node cost blocks 410 corresponding to the node states 0-31, respectively, which may be MPEG-2 node states. A node state may, for instance, be defined by a NodeID control signal received by the node cost blocks 410. Each node cost block 410 may be configured to receive all the candidates and associated distortion costs from the candidate generation block 405. In the example of FIG. 4, each of the node cost blocks 410 may receive the candidates u₀, u₁, u₂, u₃, and u₄ in parallel along with their respective distortion costs D₀, D₁, D₂, D₃, and D₄. Accordingly, a connection between the candidate generation block 405 and the node cost blocks 410 may be as wide as the number of candidates, e.g. five wires wide, and provide capacity for a sufficient number of bits. The node cost blocks 410 may also receive a NodeID signal specifying the state. Each node cost block 410 may provide an arc for each candidate, and each arc may include a cost, a distortion cost, a rate cost, a state, and a path, including coefficients contributing to the arc.

The minimum cost blocks 415, which may correspond in number to the node cost blocks 410 and may also correspond to unique node states, may each be configured to receive a plurality of arcs and determine which arc has a lowest cost. The particular node cost blocks 410 coupled to the minimum cost blocks 415 may be determined by allowable state transitions of the encoding method as described below. Each of the minimum cost blocks 415 may further be configured to provide the lowest cost arc that was input to the minimum cost block 415 to a node cost block 410 having a same node state. Each node cost block 415 may be configured to update the received arc by adding respective costs of the arc to costs of new candidates as well as append each candidate to a path of the arc. The final minimum cost block 420 may be configured to receive the lowest cost arc for each node state and identify an arc having the overall lowest cost, and may further be configured to provide the corresponding cost, rate cost, distortion cost, and path of the lowest cost arc from the optimization block 400.

In an example operation of the optimization block 400, a first coefficient of a coefficient vector may be received at the candidate generation block 405, and the candidate generation block 405 may generate a plurality of candidates corresponding to the coefficient. In at least one embodiment, the candidates may be based, at least in part, on a quantization parameter Qp and/or inverse lambda, as will be described further below. The quantization parameter may be provided by a mode decision block, such as the mode decision block 230 of FIG. 2, and further may be indicative of a resolution factor for quantization. In addition to generating the plurality of candidates, the candidate generation block 405 may further generate a plurality of distortion costs corresponding to the plurality of candidates respectively. The candidate generation block 405 may be configured to generate five candidates and/or distortion costs for each coefficient, but embodiments of the invention should not be limited to a particular number, as other implementations may be used without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

Each candidate, distortion cost, and a respective node state, may be provided from the candidate generation block 405 to each of a plurality of node cost blocks 410. An arc for each candidate may be generated by each of the plurality of node cost blocks 410 based on the node state of each node cost block 410 and the distortion cost of each candidate.

Each arc may be provided to one or more of a plurality of minimum cost blocks 415 based on the node state of each node cost block 410 and each minimum cost block 415. That is, as will be explained in more detail below, to reduce the number of potential paths, the node cost blocks 410 may provide arcs to particular minimum cost blocks 415 based on a state transition scheme, such as one or more state transition schemes according to the MPEG-2 coding standard. Once each minimum cost block 415 has received its respective arc(s) from one or more of the node cost blocks 410, each minimum cost block 415 may determine which received arc has the lowest cost.

Each minimum cost block 415 may provide its lowest cost arc to the node cost block 410 having a same node state. New candidates and distortion costs corresponding to the next coefficient may also be received by the node cost blocks 410. Based, at least in part, on the received arcs, new candidates, and distortion costs, updated arcs may be provided to respective minimum cost blocks 415. The updated arcs may include a cost for the current candidate added to a previous fed-back cost, a next state for the candidate, and the candidate coefficient appended to a list of coefficients from the fed-back arc. Again, each minimum cost block 415 may determine which arc has the lowest cost and provide the lowest cost arc to the node cost block 410 having the same node state. This process may be iteratively repeated until candidates for all coefficients have been considered. The final minimum cost arcs for each node cost block 410 may be provided to the final minimum cost block 420, which may determine which arc has the lowest cost. The final list of appended coefficients in the selected lowest cost arc may be output (e.g. u[n] in FIG. 4), along with the cost, distortion cost, and rate cost specified by the selected lowest cost arc.

FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic block diagram of a candidate generation block 500 according to an embodiment of the invention. The candidate generation block 500 may be used to implement the candidate generation block 405 of FIG. 4. As described, the candidate generation block 405 may receive coefficients of a coefficient vector and generate a plurality of candidates and distortion costs for each coefficient. Generally, the candidate generation block 500 may function to perform a forward quantization (e.g. HDQ) on an unquantized transform coefficient, based on the quantization parameter Qp. Multiple additional candidates are generated and inverse quantized. Each candidate may be subtracted from the original and the difference squared. The squared difference may then be multiplied by inverse lambda and clamped to a particular bit width to yield the candidate.

In an example operation of the candidate generation block 500, each coefficient of a coefficient vector may be sequentially provided to the candidate generation block 500, and in particular, to the forward quantization block 502. As known, the forward quantization block 502 may quantize each coefficient based, at least in part, on the quantization parameter Qp, to generate a quantized coefficient in accordance with one or more quantization methods, e.g. HDQ. A plurality of candidates may be generated based, at least in part, on the quantized coefficient and provided from the candidate generation block 500, for instance, to a plurality of node cost blocks as described above. In one embodiment, the plurality of candidates may include the quantized coefficient as well as the quantized coefficient having increased and decreased quantization levels, respectively. The increased and decreased quantization level candidates may be provided by the candidate generation blocks 504, 506, 508, and 510, respectively.

A distortion cost for each candidate may also be generated by the candidate generation block 500. In one embodiment, for example, an inverse quantization block 512 may be used to inverse quantize each of the candidates, respectively. Each candidate may subsequently be subtracted (e.g. using block 516) from the coefficient to generate a residual error between the coefficient and reconstructed candidate. Each error may be squared (e.g. using block 518) and multiplied by inverse lambda (e.g. using block 522) to produce respective distortion costs for each candidate. The bit width for each distortion cost may be truncated by a clamp 530. Generally any number of bits may be set by the clamp, e.g. 25 bits in one example. In this manner, five multiplications with inverse lambda may be used to generate five coefficients. Inverse lambda may, in some examples, vary by coefficient, and utilizing candidate generation as described and shown with reference to FIG. 5 using inverse lambda may allow for per-coefficient lambda variation. Without the use of inverse lambda, lambda itself is typically applied after a rate is calculated, which may require a greater number of multiplications and may not permit per-coefficient lambda variation.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a minimum cost block 600 according to an embodiment of the invention. The minimum cost block 600 may be used to implement the minimum cost block 415 of FIG. 4. The minimum cost block 600 may include a minimum cost index 610 and a multiplexer 620. The minimum cost block 600 may be configured to receive a control signal NodeID that in at least one embodiment, may assign a node state to the minimum cost block 600. Both the minimum cost index 610 and the multiplexer 620 may be configured to receive one or more arcs, for instance, from one or more node cost blocks, such as the node cost blocks 410 of FIG. 4. The minimum cost index 610 may determine which of the received arcs have states corresponding to the node state of the minimum cost block 600, and of those arcs, which has the lowest cost. The minimum cost index 610 may further be configured to cause the multiplexer 620 to selectively output the arc having the lowest cost responsive, at least in part, to determining which arc has the lowest cost. In this manner, only candidates transitioning into a desired state need be evaluated.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a node cost block 700 according to an embodiment of the invention. The node cost block 700 may be used to implement the node cost block 410 of FIG. 4. The node cost block 700 may include a plurality of arc cost blocks 702 (e.g. registers), a node register 704, and a multiplexer 706. The multiplexer 706 may receive an initial arc and a lowest cost arc, and may provide the initial arc or lowest cost arc to the node register 704. The node register 704 may receive and store the initial arc or lowest cost arc provided by the multiplexer 706.

The plurality of arc cost blocks 702 may correspond in number to the number of candidates generated for each coefficient, for instance, by a candidate generation block, and accordingly, each of the plurality arc cost blocks 702 may receive a candidate and distortion cost. Each arc cost block 702 may receive the initial arc or lowest cost arc from the node register 704 and may provide an updated arc for each respective candidate.

As an example, during an initialization, an initial arc may be provided to the multiplexer 706, which may in turn selectively provide the initial arc to the register 704. Candidates and distortion costs for a first coefficient may be generated, for example, by a candidate generation block 405 of FIG. 4, and provided to the node cost block 700. Respective candidates and distortion costs as well as the initial arc in the register 704 may be provided to each of the plurality of arc cost blocks 702. Based on the candidates, distortion costs, and the initial arc, each arc cost block 702 may provide an arc.

As described above with respect to FIG. 4, minimum cost blocks may provide lowest cost arcs to node cost blocks responsive, at least in part, to identifying the lowest cost arc, and responsively, node cost blocks may provide updated arcs. However, for candidates based on the first coefficient, respective node cost blocks may not have yet received an arc. Accordingly, for candidates corresponding to the first coefficient, a node cost block may provide an arc based, at least in part, on the initial arc that may, for instance, include initial values (e.g., zero) for each parameter of an arc (e.g., cost, rate cost, distortion cost, path, and/or state).

Once arcs have been generated for the first candidates, each of the arcs may be provided to one or more minimum cost blocks 415, and an arc having the lowest cost for each node state may be provided to the node cost block having the same node state, as described. Thus, in at least one embodiment, an arc determined to have the lowest cost for a particular node state may be provided to a node cost block 700, and in particular, to the multiplexer 706. The multiplexer 706 may selectively provide the arc to the register 704, which may in turn provide the arc to the arc cost blocks 702. The arc cost blocks 702 may receive new respective candidates and distortion costs for a subsequent coefficient, and again provide updated arcs. The arc cost blocks 702 may receive lowest cost arcs, new candidates and distortion costs, and responsively provide updated arcs until candidates for all coefficients of a coefficient vector have been considered.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of an arc cost circuit 800 according to an embodiment of the invention. The arc cost block 800 may be used to implement the arc cost block 702 of FIG. 7. The arc cost block 800 may include a rate block 802, adders 806, 808, 810, and a candidate path block 804, and may be configured to provide an updated arc responsive, at least in part, to receipt of a candidate. The arc cost block 800 may, for example, combine various costs (e.g., distortion costs, rate costs, and/or rate-distortion costs) of an are and the candidate respectively, and further may provide a new state and path for the updated arc.

As an example operation of the arc cost block 800, a candidate, and a state of an arc may be provided to the rate block 802. The state may be based, for instance, on a state transition scheme in accordance with the MPEG-2 coding standard, and the rate block 802 may determine a next state based on the state and/or the candidate. The rate block 802 may further determine a rate cost of the candidate for a new arc. In one embodiment, for example, the rate block 802 may determine the rate cost of the candidate using estimation tables for one or more coding standards, such as the MPEG-2 coding standard.

The rate cost of the candidate may be combined with the rate cost of the arc by the adder 806. Moreover, the distortion cost may be combined with the distortion cost included in the arc by the adder 808. An adder 810 may combine the combined distortion cost and the combined rate cost to generate a cost for the updated arc. Finally, the candidate path block 804 may receive the path of the are and the candidate, and append (e.g., concatenate) the current candidate to the path. This may, for example, maintain a complete list of the candidates used in a path, and should a particular arc have the overall lowest cost, the candidates included in the path may be provided as optimized quantized coefficients as described above.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a rate block 900 according to an embodiment of the invention. The rate block 900 may be used to implement the rate block 802 of FIG. 8. The rate block 900 may include a state transition block 902 and an estimation table 904 (e.g. look-up tables).

The state transition block 902 may generate a new state responsive to receipt of a state and a candidate. The new state may be generated in accordance with a state transition scheme, and/or the candidate value. The estimation table 904 may receive the candidate and the state and provide an estimated rate for a candidate at the received state. The estimation table 904 may be implemented using a look-up table and/or allow rates to be estimated fractionally. In at least one embodiment, the estimation table may be based, at least in part, on an entropy table for the MPEG-2 coding standard.

In at least one embodiment, estimating the rate costs for in this manner may mitigate and/or eliminate the need for calculation of rate costs for each candidate. This may decrease the time required to determine a rate cost for a candidate, for instance, within a predetermined tolerance. Accordingly, utilization of the look-up table 904 may facilitate real-time operation of the systems and methods described herein.

FIG. 10 is a state diagram 1000 for node states according to an embodiment of the invention. The state transition scheme of the state diagram 1000 may govern permitted state transitions of states received by the rate block 902 of FIG. 9 and further may be arranged in accordance with the MPEG-2 coding standard. Generally, a state may change based on the value of a candidate and in some examples, on the absolute value of the candidate. In one embodiment, for example, a state transition may be governed by the following equation:

NEXT(s,u)=(u==0)? Min(32,s+1):0;

where ‘u’ may be an absolute value of a candidate value and ‘s’ may a state. It will be appreciated, however, that other state transitions may be specified and used to govern state transitions of states without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

Moreover, as explained above with respect to FIGS. 4 and 6, respectively, in at least one embodiment, node cost blocks 410 may provide arcs only to particular minimum cost blocks 415, and only arcs received by a minimum cost block 600 having a state corresponding to the node state of the minimum cost block 600 may be considered in determining which, of any received arcs has the lowest cost. This follows from the fact that states may transition according to the state diagram 1000 illustrated in FIG. 10. For example, a state of 1 may transition to a state of 2 if a candidate has a value of 0, or may transition to a state of 0 if a candidate does not have a value of 0. Accordingly, the node cost block 410 (FIG. 4) having a node state of 1 may provide arcs to minimum cost blocks 415 having node states of 2 and 0, respectively. Each of those minimum cost blocks 415 receiving the arcs may then determine whether any of the states of the arcs match their respective node state.

Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention include systems and methods that may optimize coefficients in a macroblock using a lambda-weighted rate-distortion cost equation. Embodiments may be used for real-time encoders, such as real-time VLC encoders, and may employ fractional bit estimations and inverse lambda.

FIG. 11 is a schematic illustration of a media delivery system 1100 in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. The media delivery system 1100 may provide a mechanism for delivering a media source 1102 to one or more of a variety of media output(s) 1104. Although only one media source 1102 and media output 1104 are illustrated in FIG. 11, it is to be understood that any number may be used, and examples of the present invention may be used to broadcast and/or otherwise deliver media content to any number of media outputs.

The media source data 1102 may be any source of media content, including but not limited to, video, audio, data, or combinations thereof. The media source data 1102 may be, for example, audio and/or video data that may be captured using a camera, microphone, and/or other capturing devices, or may be generated or provided by a processing device. Media source data 1102 may be analog and/or digital. When the media source data 1102 is analog data, the media source data 1102 may be converted to digital data using, for example, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). Typically, to transmit the media source data 1102, some mechanism for compression and/or encryption may be desirable. Accordingly, an apparatus 1110 may be provided that may filter and/or encode the media source data 1102 using any methodologies in the art, known now or in the future, including encoding methods in accordance with video standards such as, but not limited to, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.263, MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, HEVC, VC-1, VP8 or combinations of these or other encoding standards. The apparatus 1110 may be implemented with embodiments of the present invention described herein. For example, the apparatus 1110 may be implemented using the apparatus 100 of FIG. 1.

The encoded data 1112 may be provided to a communications link, such as a satellite 1114, an antenna 1116, and/or a network 1118. The network 1118 may be wired or wireless, and further may communicate using electrical and/or optical transmission. The antenna 1116 may be a terrestrial antenna, and may, for example, receive and transmit conventional AM and FM signals, satellite signals, or other signals known in the art. The communications link may broadcast the encoded data 1112, and in some examples may alter the encoded data 1112 and broadcast the altered encoded data 1112 (e.g. by re-encoding, adding to, or subtracting from the encoded data 1112). The encoded data 1120 provided from the communications link may be received by a receiver 1122 that may include or be coupled to a decoder. The decoder may decode the encoded data 1120 to provide one or more media outputs, with the media output 1104 shown in FIG. 11. The receiver 1122 may be included in or in communication with any number of devices, including but not limited to a modem, router, server, set-top box, laptop, desktop, computer, tablet, mobile phone, etc.

The media delivery system 1100 of FIG. 11 and/or the apparatus 1110 may be utilized in a variety of segments of a content distribution industry.

FIG. 12 is a schematic illustration of a video distribution system 1200 that may make use of apparatuses described herein. The video distribution system 1200 includes video contributors 1205. The video contributors 1205 may include, but are not limited to, digital satellite news gathering systems 1206, event broadcasts 1207, and remote studios 1208. Each or any of these video contributors 1205 may utilize an apparatus described herein, such as the apparatus 100 of FIG. 1, to encode media source data and provide encoded data to a communications link. The digital satellite news gathering system 1206 may provide encoded data to a satellite 1202. The event broadcast 1207 may provide encoded data to an antenna 1201. The remote studio 1208 may provide encoded data over a network 1203.

A production segment 1210 may include a content originator 1212. The content originator 1212 may receive encoded data from any or combinations of the video contributors 1205. The content originator 1212 may make the received content available, and may edit, combine, and/or manipulate any of the received content to make the content available. The content originator 1212 may utilize apparatuses described herein, such as the apparatus 100 of FIG. 1, to provide encoded data to the satellite 1214 (or another communications link). The content originator 1212 may provide encoded data to a digital terrestrial television system 1216 over a network or other communication link. In some examples, the content originator 1212 may utilize a decoder to decode the content received from the contributor(s) 1205. The content originator 1212 may then re-encode data and provide the encoded data to the satellite 1214. In other examples, the content originator 1212 may not decode the received data, and may utilize a transcoder to change a coding format of the received data.

A primary distribution segment 1220 may include a digital broadcast system 1221, the digital terrestrial television system 1216, and/or a cable system 1223. The digital broadcasting system 1221 may include a receiver, such as the receiver 1122 described with reference to FIG. 11, to receive encoded data from the satellite 1214. The digital terrestrial television system 1216 may include a receiver, such as the receiver 1122 described with reference to FIG. 11, to receive encoded data from the content originator 1212. The cable system 1223 may host its own content which may or may not have been received from the production segment 1210 and/or the contributor segment 1205. For example, the cable system 1223 may provide its own media source data 1102 as that which was described with reference to FIG. 11.

The digital broadcast system 1221 may include an apparatus, such as the apparatus 1110 described with reference to FIG. 11, to provide encoded data to the satellite 1225. The cable system 1223 may include an apparatus, such as the apparatus 100 of FIG. 1, to provide encoded data over a network or other communications link to a cable local headend 1232. A secondary distribution segment 1230 may include, for example, the satellite 1225 and/or the cable local headend 1232.

The cable local headend 1232 may include an apparatus, such as the apparatus 100 of FIG. 1, to provide encoded data to clients in a client segment 1140 over a network or other communications link. The satellite 1225 may broadcast signals to clients in the client segment 1240. The client segment 1240 may include any number of devices that may include receivers, such as the receiver 1122 and associated decoder described with reference to FIG. 11, for decoding content, and ultimately, making content available to users. The client segment 1240 may include devices such as set-top boxes, tablets, computers, servers, laptops, desktops, cell phones, etc.

Accordingly, filtering, encoding, and/or decoding may be utilized at any of a number of points in a video distribution system. Embodiments of the present invention may find use within any, or in some examples all, of these segments.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration, various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An encoder, comprising: a quantization block configured to serially receive a plurality of coefficients and to generate a plurality of candidates for each of the plurality of coefficients, the quantization block further configured to generate an arc for each of the candidates in accordance with the MPEG-2 coding standard, each arc having a respective rate and, wherein the quantization block is further configured to identify an arc having a minimum cost for each of a plurality of node states and to provide a modified plurality of coefficients associated with the minimum cost arc.
 2. The encoder of claim 1, wherein the quantization block is further configured to calculate a distortion cost associated with each candidate, wherein the distortion cost is calculated using an inverse Lagrangian function.
 3. The encoder of claim 1, wherein the quantization block includes a candidate generation block configured to serially receive the plurality of coefficients and to generate the plurality of candidates for each of the plurality of coefficients and wherein one of the candidates for each of the plurality of coefficients comprises the coefficient.
 4. The encoder of claim 1, further comprising an entropy encoder configured to receive the modified plurality of coefficients and provide an encoded bitstream based, at least in part, on the modified plurality of coefficients.
 5. The encoder of claim 1, wherein the rate associated with each of the candidates is clamped to a predetermined number of bits.
 6. The encoder of claim 1, wherein the quantization block includes: a plurality of node cost blocks, each node cost block associated with a respective state of the MPEG-2 encoding standard and configured to generate an arc associated with each candidate, wherein each are includes a rate cost and a distortion cost; and a plurality of minimum cost blocks associated with the node cost blocks respectively, each of the plurality of minimum cost blocks configured to receive arcs from the node cost blocks associated with a state of the minimum cost blocks, wherein the minimum cost blocks are configured to identify a lowest cost are from the received arcs, generate an updated arc, and provide the updated are to the node cost block associated with the respective state.
 7. An apparatus, comprising: a candidate generation block configured to generate a plurality of candidates based, at least in part, on a received coefficient; a plurality of node cost blocks coupled to the candidate generation block, each of the plurality of node cost blocks configured to provide a plurality of arcs based, at least in part, on the plurality of candidates, each of the plurality of arcs including a rate cost and a distortion cost; and a plurality of minimum cost blocks coupled to at least one of the plurality of node cost blocks and configured to receive at least one of the respective plurality of arcs and identify an arc of the at least one respective plurality of arcs having a lowest cost, wherein each of the plurality of node cost blocks has a respective node state and is coupled to a minimum cost block of the plurality of minimum cost blocks having a same respective node state and to a minimum cost block of the plurality of minimum cost blocks having a zero node state.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the optimization block is included in an encoder.
 9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the plurality of node cost blocks and the plurality of minimum cost blocks are configured in a trellis arrangement.
 10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the optimization block further comprises a rate block configured to calculate the rate cost using a rate estimation table.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the candidate generation block configured to inverse quantize each of the candidates in accordance with the MPEG-2 coding standard.
 12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the candidate generation block is configured to generate each candidate based, at least in part, on an inversed rate scaling factor.
 13. A method for encoding a video signal, comprising: serially receiving a plurality of coefficients; generating a plurality of candidates for each of the plurality of coefficients using an inverse lambda factor; generating a respective arc for each of the plurality of candidates in accordance with the MPEG-2 coding standard; and determining which of the respective arcs has a lowest cost to provide a plurality of optimized coefficients.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising: encoding the optimized coefficients with an entropy encoder to provide an encoded bitstream.
 15. The method of claim 13, further comprising: performing a zigzag operation on the plurality of coefficients to generate a coefficient vector.
 16. The method of claim 13, wherein optimizing comprises utilizing trellis optimization to find a minimum cost arc associated with the candidate coefficients.
 17. The method of claim 13, wherein generating a respective arc comprises estimating a rate based, at least in part, on a node state and a candidate of the plurality of candidates.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein estimating a rate comprises estimating a rate using an estimation table.
 19. The method of claim 13, wherein generating a plurality of candidates for each of the plurality of coefficients comprises inverse quantizing each of the candidates in accordance with the MPEG-2 coding standard.
 20. The method of claim 13, wherein generating a respective arc for each of the plurality of candidates in accordance with the MPEG-2 coding standard comprises updating a state of the respective arc based, at least in part, on a value of a candidate of the plurality of candidates. 